


Christmas Is A Time To Say I Love You

by jlillymoon



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Christmas Fluff, M/M, Mention of Past Violence, Mention of sex, post reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 06:27:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5529407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jlillymoon/pseuds/jlillymoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For wintrysherlock....</p><p>Secret Santa Mormor fic</p><p>A look into Christmas morning after Jim returns from the dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Is A Time To Say I Love You

Sebastian stood back and took a long look at his work. The tree was perfect. Tall. Green with just a hint of blue in the needles. None on the floor. The lights… white of course, where strung with almost military precision. Seb had spend hours making sure they were symmetrical and each one twinkled in just the right way. He hung each ornament on the tree just so. There was equal spacing between them and from the top to the bottom. The tree was a designer’s wet dream.  But Seb stood with his arms crossed on his broad chest, tapping his foot. Something wasn’t right.

“Ah… yes.” he thought to himself when he saw it. The star… the star was perfectly straight. It never was straight. He stood up on the ladder and fixed it. There. The perfect tree. He smiled and cleaned up quickly, not wanting Jim to wake before he was done. He smiled and put the massive pile of gifts for Jim underneath the branches before heading into the kitchen to start coffee and breakfast.

Jim rolled over and his hand reached out for Sebastian as had become his habit in the last year. It had taken a lot for Sebastian to get over his initial anger at Jim. It came little by little and there were times… times that for every step forward they had made in their relationship… they also lost ground.

Jim sighed but as he breathed in he smelled coffee and bacon. It was a wonderful smell and Jim’s stomach growled. He smirked a little before getting out of bed and heading to the kitchen.

 

“Good morning, Tiger.” Jim said through a yawn. “What’s got you up with the sun?” He poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Good morning yourself.” Seb answered, put a plate in front of Jim and planting a kiss on the top of his head. Jim grabbed his wrist before he went to far and pulled him into a proper kiss. “Hmm.”  Seb moaned.

“So?”

“What? Oh… right. I was taking care of something this morning. A bit of a surprise.” Seb said as he grabbed his own breakfast and joined Jim at the table.

“A surprise?” Jim said warily. “What sort of surprise?” His eyes narrowed and Seb shrugged as he ate. 

“Yes, dear. A surprise.” he said, putting down his fork only to pick up his coffee. “Eat up love. Then I can show you.”

Jim picked up his fork and toyed with it for a moment before finally giving in and eating. He hated when Seb got the best of him, but he figured if it was going to anyone, it should be Sebastian.

 

Sebastian stood up after they had finished eating, clearing away the breakfast dishes and smiling as Jim took his coffee into the living room. He knew that Jim would of course scoff at the sight of the tree and make some sort of protest. But after their last Christmas…. this one had to be more than perfect.

Jim wandered into the living room and his face melted. Of course. It was Christmas morning. Sebastian had gotten a tree. Decorated it perfectly and there was a stack of gifts under it the size of a small village. Jim knew that most of them had to be for him, but he… he hadn’t gotten Sebastian a thing. He had honestly forgotten about the holiday. 

Jim sat down heavily on the sofa and curled his legs up underneath him. He sipped his coffee while still deep in thought. How could he have forgotten. He had been back in the flat a year. And in that year things… things had gone from bad to worse between them. But after a few months, they slowly started to get better. And by the time the leaves on the trees had begun to change color, things were better. Better than better. It was almost as if things had finally clicked into place.

But Jim hadn’t noticed how long it had taken. Sebastian didn’t do anything special for Jim’s birthday that year. He fought hard not to shut himself into the study with a bottle and remember what it was like to spend it alone the previous year. He tried to make him a lovely dinner. He had tried to engage Jim in sex. But Jim found himself involved in a case that took all of his focus away from everything else. And by the time the sun dawned the next morning Sebastian was fed up and punched Jim. For the first time since he the night he came back. Jim felt guilty for a week after.

 

But here it was Christmas again and Jim hadn’t done a damn thing. And wouldn’t Sebastian just  _ love _ that. 

Just as Jim’s thought crossed his mind, the blonde sniper came into the sitting room and sat down on the sofa next to him. “You forgot, didn’t you.” he said. His voice was calm. Even. Perfectly…. Sebastian when he was really upset. He knew that he had screwed up again and all Jim could do was give Seb a cool little nod. “I get it.” Seb said as he got up and headed towards the pile of gifts. He started to pull them into small groups. He moved one towards Jim.

“These are yours from my sister.” Seb said as he started to work on his own small pile. Seeing the gifts that came from Seb’s family made Jim feel worse. The hot stone of disappointment in himself was burning through him.

“Oh.” Jim finally said, picking up a gift and turning it over in his hands. He watched as Seb unwrapped his own gifts. 

“Don’t worry.” Seb said after a moment. “I sent gifts with your name on them too. No one will know that you didn’t have a hand in them at all.”  He sighed as he kept at his gifts. He finally came to the bottom of his pile and Jim hadn’t touched his, still turning the one over in his hand.

“I’m sorry.” Jim said quietly.

“At least I’m not drunk this year.” Seb said with a sarcastic smirk.

“I’m a shit… whatever.” Jim said. Jim hated the word boyfriend and they were far from partners. “Yeah. You are.” Seb said. He nodded towards the other pile of gifts. “These are for you. I’m going outside for a cigarette.” Seb said as he tugged on his hoodie that sat by the terrace doors. He shoved his feet into his boots and stood out in the cold, smoking.

Jim looked at the pile. He was amazed that Seb found time… no. Seb  _ made _ time to buy him all these things. He took his time, looking them over and ended up sinking to the floor. He carefully sorted through all the boxes, putting them into neat piles around him. Before long he came upon on a small singular box. Jim turned it in his hands, looking at it, his face confused.

“That’s supposed to be the last one.” Seb said, leaning against the back of the sofa. Jim had been so wrapped up in his own head he hadn’t heard him come back in.

“Oh.” Jim said. He put it down on the top of the pile and looked at Seb. “A year ago… when I came back, I had given you a gift.” He started. It was the first time Jim had really spoken about that night. “Did you ever open it?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because… I… I don’t want to know what’s in it.” 

“Seb…” Jim said, his eyes cast down. “I fucked up. I… I didn’t intend to lose myself again.” 

“Jim….” Seb said as he came to sit on his knees in front of Jim. He placed his hand on Jim’s face. “It’s been hard Jim. I’ve kept it wrapped as a reminder. A reminder that there are points in my life I don’t want to repeat. And that night could have been bad. But then you were there. And… everything changed.”

“It did.” Jim whispered.

Sebastian leaned over and picked up the little box. He opened the lid and handed it to Jim. “I don’t want you to think that I’m doing this… I’m not asking for something that you will never give.” Seb swallowed. “Jim, I love you. You know that. I don’t expect you to say it in return. It’s not your… style. And I know that… well… I  _ belong _ to you. I always have.”

Jim smiled just a bit. He leaned into Seb’s touch and studied the box in his hand. “You want to get married?”

“No.”

“But that’s a… a ring.”

“Very good Jim. You get a gold star.” Seb said with a smirk.

“Ass.” Jim mumbled. Seb leaned in and gave him a kiss. 

“Yes, I’m an ass. But this isn’t an engagement ring. This… this is a ring that means more than marriage. It’s a promise. A promise that I… I forgive you. That I… I am putting the past… behind me. And that I am yours. Eternally. “ Seb took the ring out of the box and handed it to Jim. Jim looked at the braided band. Fine white gold, it wasn’t new. The hands holding the heart with the crown about them were worn but well cared for. Jim looked inside the solid plane of the heart and saw initials.

“SM-JM 1916?” Jim read aloud.

“My great grandparents. Siobhan Moran and John Moran. Siobhan gave it to John the day he left for France to fight in the war. It’s been passed down since. I am giving it to you.” 

Jim looked at it for another moment before pulling it on his finger. “I didn’t get you a single gift.” Jim said as he looked at the metal around his finger. 

“You gave me you.” Seb said, looking at him. “You brought yourself back to me and that’s all I’ll ever need.”

Jim looked up and saw that Sebastian was smiling at him. “I love you.” It was simple. Plain. Clear.

Sebastian leaned in and kissed Jim deeply. “I love you too, kitten.” He kissed him again. “Now… you have two choices. Open your damn presents and then take me to bed. Or take me to bed and open the presents later.”

“Oh… such choices.” Jim drawled. He leaned over to Seb and ran his hand down his face. “Bed Tiger.” Seb smiled and nodded. A much better Christmas than last year.

  
  
  



End file.
